Latest update February 6th, 2025 7:27 AM
Commitment is still there for the New River Triangle Muri Project – says Robert Persaud
Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Robert Persaud, during the National 2014 Budget Debate, said the controversial New River Triangle Muri project is an avenue for diversification from gold to other minerals.
Persaud spoke among other things to the critical nature of the Natural Resources and Environment sector towards economic growth and fostering stability.
Natural Resources Minister Robert Persaud
He praised small and medium scale gold miners who he said were responsible for Guyana achieving 481,000 ounces of gold last year.
Persaud spoke also to the need for diversification of Guyana from gold when he referred to the public debate of the Muri project and the granting of the Permission for Geographical and Geophysical Surveys (PGGS) in the New River Area.
He said that much has been said about that, “but the underling objective of that and other efforts is for us to understand what it is we have.”
According to Persaud, the resources that “we have and the focus of that particular PGGS were for us to develop rare earth elements” which he posited as being a very scarce commodity.
“It was in pursuit of diversification and an understanding of the geological make up and resources that we have embarked on that.”
The Natural Resources Minister further said that the commitment is still there for the project. “When we speak now to our miners locally and even when we have foreign investors, it is about ensuring that we make maximum use and in that regard we continue to work not only with operators, persons who have prospecting licence but also with our partners be it the United States, Canadians, the Chileans, the Chinese and other friendly government’s in terms of giving us support so that we can have a comprehensive and updated geological map.”
He also said that the impetus in that regard is necessary to “understand and know our resources”. This would allow Guyana to peruse diversification and engage in sensible mining to reduce the impact it would have on the environment.
Persaud then called for more cohesion between the combined opposition and government where matters of Territorial Sovereignty are concerned. He used the forcible removal of the seismic vessel by the Venezuelan Navy as an example.
According to Persaud, just recently through the Ministry, “we have had to protest and sometimes the statements that we make and the mix signals that we send in our country, they emboldened others outside, thus we have to withdraw.”
He said that they had to withdraw their participation in an oil and gas conference that Suriname was proposing to hold in June.
“The reason why we withdrew was because they were circulating documents and as part of the Suriname map they had the New River Triangle area included.”
Persaud added, “We have to constantly and consistently and stridently take a unified stand on our territory but also on the development of our natural resources and the development of all possibilities within our 83,000 square miles.
“We must not in any way suggest we are surrendering or we are as it were being ambivalent on this particular issue.”
There was a raging debate publicly over the Natural Resources Minister granting to private company, Muri Brazil Venture Incorporated, permission for exploration and subsequent prospecting of the sensitive New River Triangle area under the PGGS granted by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC).
However, plans to work the disputed area reached a standstill when several independent bodies expressed against the foreign-owned company having rights to the area.
Moreover, critics were loud about the apparent secrecy surrounding the deal which saw Muri being able to survey some 2.2 million acres of untouched forest which was in a geographically sensitive area.
Even GGMC said that it had advised against the company getting the PGGS. It was further stated that the agency had been instructed to give the go-ahead to Muri.
Muri has since pulled out of the project citing that although the process was legal and transparent, there was a lot of “hostility to this proposed survey by persons and agencies which are fostering an adverse investment climate in Guyana.”
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